The 1-5-25 Principle

“And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2 ESV

The image above is what we call the 1-5-25 principle. I picked this up from Jeff Sundell. Basically stated, each person should aim to have 5 Timothys (or Lydias) and he or she should coach each of them to find their own 5.

Paul might not have used the same terminology, but I think it fits what he was trying to reinforce to Timothy.

We will never multiply without a vision for multiplication. A vision for multiplication will drive us to build systems that empower multiplication. There is expectation for multiplication all over Paul’s command to Timothy. His command is that Timothy should pass on what he’s heard from Paul. His expectation then is that the people Timothy will pass it on to will be faithful men who have the ability to reproduce it themselves.

I can’t help but think that Paul’s vision for Timothy was bigger than Timothy’s vision for himself. And in this way, Timothy’s capacity grew as he struggled with Paul’s vision for him.